​SOUL SOURCEOne Heart ~ One Mind ~ One Consciousness ~ One Life

Gloria Shepard

Gloria Shepard offers a practical, down-to-earth support with mindfulness and parenting education. This support helps students and clients of all ages to connect and make peace with their true Self, express that Self more fully, and bring peace into other relationships.. Having worked with children, parents, and teachers for her entire career, Gloria is very aware of the challenges faced by young people and those who support them. She offers support to children, teens, parents, and families individually and in groups as they learn to find peace in their complex lives.

Gloria offers mindfulness classes for young people, parents, and adults. She also offers Conscious Parenting Classes which help parents develop emotional skills that support both parents and their children. Much of Gloria's counseling support helps individuals become conscious of patterns, beliefs, and trauma often left from childhood that is preventing them from living freely in the present. This work incorporates mindfulness self-awareness, trauma and stress relief and release, connection and emotional support.

Gloria came to this work through her own journey to be present with her thoughts and feelings in constructive ways. It's been a process of deep discovery, one that Gloria is honored and grateful to share with clients and students. As a long time teacher, including many years teaching at The School in Rose Valley, and parent of two teenage sons, Gloria has much experience with parents and young people of all ages.

Mindfulness Classes

We want to be kind and patient, to be calm and relaxed, to be healthy and sleep well. But it isn't always easy to DO. By learning HOW to bring our awareness into the present moment using our senses--listening, feeling, seeing, smelling and even tasting--and our breath, we can begin to live more like we want to.

With mindfulness, we become aware of our physical bodies. By noticing the feeling of our breath, muscle tension, sleepiness, restlessness, sore knees, headache, whatever is going on in our bodies, we come into the present moment and ground ourselves more fully in our own bodies.

We learn to notice our emotions, bringing awareness to what may drive some of our most difficult behaviors. When you are angry or scared, how do act? Do you sometimes react without even realizing what you are feeling? Using mindfulness can allow you to notice how you feel and choose how to express and respond to it.

We also practice noticing our thoughts. Our minds tend to run a constant commentary on ourselves, other people and situations, and the commentary is often an unfriendly one. We may not even be aware of the thoughts we are having. With mindfulness, we notice what is happening in our minds, allowing us to choose how to respond to the thoughts.

Everyone can learn how to be aware of the present moment and build self awareness. Children, teens, and adults learn in different ways, but all can learn mindfulness. No matter how busy your mind, how stressful your life, how impulsive your behavior, you can bring awareness to it with support. And with mindful awareness, you can experience freedom!

Parenting Support

We come to parenting steeped in our own experience as children. Some of us are lucky enough to have been raised with loving connection, healthy boundaries, and support, but most of us are trying to create that for our children without having experienced it.

If you are finding parenting confusing and difficult, it may be time for help! Things really can get easier.